


The Library

by morstan



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Marauders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-09
Updated: 2014-05-09
Packaged: 2018-01-24 02:12:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1587866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morstan/pseuds/morstan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's no news that James Potter fancies Lily Evans - well, except to them, maybe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Library

He usually knew where she was, and it wasn’t just because of that blasted map.  
She was usually to be found in the library, which, James would later ruefully admit, made sense: their impending O.W.L. exams called for the increased habit of studying and, both Lily and James knew, the library was a place from which the latter was banned and he loathed. One would have to be hard-pressed to find James Potter in the library, let alone in the library with an actual book.  
But it was in fact accounted towards his penchant for breaking rules that one balmy afternoon spared of the rainy Scotland weather found James seated in the library at one of the long oak tables with a book open in front of him. His eyes scanned the page, seemingly drinking up the information when in reality, he was using the cover of his untidy fringe to stare somewhat obsessively at the mane of red hair seated three tables in front of him. Had his best mates dropped in at that moment, when he was reaching to jot down something interesting and proceeded to spill his ink across the table’s veneer, James would have the mickey taken out of him for possibly months ensuing said incident. Sirius, however, was serving detention with Professor McGonagall after his “accidental” showcase of a particularly nasty hex he’d recently discovered. It was likely that Remus had retreated to the Common Room, or else to their dormitory where it was more quiet, in hopes to attain a half-decent atmosphere for studying; the hovering tendencies of their third and final close-friend, Peter, however, might have perturbed Remus to the point of seeking out another studying spot.  
At any rate, none of James’s best mates were available to poke fun, so he sopped up the ink under the withering glare of Madam Blishwick. It was much to James’s chagrin that Lily chose that precise moment to turn and glance at the clock, so the sight of his white shirt sleeves, tarnished with the dripping mess of ink, and his ruddy face was able to crack her porcelain features into a slight smile. Of course, the image of James’s cocky features upon catching sight of her reaction was enough to spur sobriety into Lily’s expression. She quickly cast her eyes back towards the pages of the book she was rapidly perusing.   
It took a great deal for James Potter to admit defeat, but three hours later Lily gave no sign of budging from her spot and Madam Blishwick had already swept past him, robes rustling, four times and found him doodling absently on the pages of a library book. Sure that his mind would wander and he might find himself doing the same again, James packed up his things and exited the library, trainers dragging along the stone floor.   
“Oi,” was the greeting James offered to his friends upon entering the Gryffindor Common Room.   
The place was three-quarters full; fifth years had jam-packed the cozy room in order to soak up the dregs of books the width of the stones framing the fireplace and seventh years doing the same, but in preparation for their N.E.W.T testing that would take place a couple of weeks after the fifth years finished their O.W.L.s. In the hearth surrounded by the frazzled students a fire glowed, spitting warm and glowing embers into the fireplace and onto the carpet, where they were quickly stamped out by a watchful gaggle of first years using the warmth and firelight to engage in a spirited game of Gobstones.   
“Mate,” Sirius responded breathlessly, completely abandoning any means of prelude in favor of the news that was nearly splitting his seems. “You’ve got to hear what happened in Hogsmeade earlier—“  
Peter, whose mousy hair and small ears (and, in fact, his entire head if that is what one wishes to account for) were almost shaking with excitement, looked up from the roll of parchment upon which he’d been frantically scribbling. A strange sort of light glowed behind his watery eyes, his intrigue in what Sirius had to say visibly piqued.   
James cut his friend off. “Where’s the Map? I need it,” he said, excusing himself, as Sirius had done, from any prefacing obligations.   
Frowning, Sirius replied, “Where it usually is, beneath the—“  
“Right, great, thanks,” James said as means of reply, already darting past his friends and weaving unceremoniously through the thickening throng of students now crowding the Common Room in an endeavor to milk the most out of the fading hours of daylight. James spared them little worry as he vaulted up the stairs to the boys’ dormitories, launching himself through the door to the circular room he shared with Sirius and Remus (Peter found himself in the dormitory across the way with a couple of other boys their year).   
Sirius’s four poster was by no means the neatest in the dormitory (that title fell to Remus, as predicted), but James had no trouble extricating the Map from the mess within Sirius’s trunk and scrambling back down the stairs to his ragtag group of friends.   
Remus frowned as James skidded to a stop on the carpet, nearly tripping over the untied laces of his trainers. “James, what’s going on?”  
“It’s Evans,” the boy in question said quickly. “I wanted to see where she was at.”  
Sirius muttered something under his breath, something that caused Remus to shoot him a wide-eyed, cautionary glare and Peter to titter. James spared him naught a glance; he was too busy struggling to regain his breath and unfold the Map, and also shield his doings from the curious stares of the Gobstones team in front of them.   
James let out a groan. “She’s with Snivellus—again.”   
“Tough luck, mate,” Sirius said bracingly, clapping a hand on James’s back. “Now, as I was saying earlier—you won’t believe what Mundungus Fletcher’s got himself into. Down at the Hog’s Head…”  
“Anyone fancy a trip down to Greenhouse Four?”  
And that was how, twenty-three minutes later, James and Sirius found themselves sprinting up the sloping grounds towards the castle, running as though hell was on their very heels, with their hands covering their faces and their robes flapping in the breeze. Sirius was sporting several large, ugly boils that threatened to burst and spray his face and surrounding ins a gross, murky pink liquid; James’s hair had turned an unnatural, brittle yellow color and now seemed in danger of breaking straight off. Not to mention the long, vertical tear down the back of his trousers that continued to grow, unbeknownst to its owner, with every step.   
Behind them, lurking in the shadows of the greenhouses, stood a particularly odd-looking pair: a boy with long, ebony hair and a pallid face and a girl standing at a couple of inches taller than him with glowing eyes and an extended wand. They dissolved into renewed fits of laughter as their victims cast them one last vengeful look and disappeared into the castle.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you guys enjoyed! whipped up very quickly,


End file.
